December workbench

Good morning all,

It's always good to check the workbench threads to see different approaches and for inspiration. I have another decoy to post this month, and it's a first for me. I'd never done a hoody before, but a friend wanted one and provided me with a picture of the pose he wanted for guidance.


View attachment DSC_0142 (600 x 400).jpg

The bird is hollow northern white cedar with a basswood head, and is self-righting. That's where the challenges came in...

I had done my standard weighting of the keel and had the bird glued up and painted before I remembered to check flotation - when tipped he floated on his side. After muttering to myself for a while, I went to the shop and took 1/8" off of the keel and did some drilling to determine where the existing lead pillars were located and then drilled a couple more 1/2" holes. I filled them with lead, and was about to glue the keel back together thinking "surely that's enough lead", but at the last second I decided to check flotation again. He was still pretty sluggish. So... back to the shop and more drilling and excavating to get some kind of cavity for lead. After pouring the lead, cooling and bagging he sat up nicely. That big, poofy basswood head had given me fits, and the brass reinforcing of the bill (ala Keith Mueller) hadn't helped with weight distribution.

I got in a hurry epoxying the keel back together and got some epoxy on the flank. I found out the hard way that scrubbing with acetone removes acrylic paint along with epoxy - argh! So... time to slow down, touch up the paint, re-glaze and move on.

Joel
 
Great bird, Joel!


Your ballasting challenges explain why traditional decoys tend to be flatter and lower than the live bird. I wonder how the Bellport Bay-style chain ballast might work on such a flamboyant posture.


All the best,


SJS

 
Joel Huener said:
Good morning all,

It's always good to check the workbench threads to see different approaches and for inspiration. I have another decoy to post this month, and it's a first for me. I'd never done a hoody before, but a friend wanted one and provided me with a picture of the pose he wanted for guidance.




The bird is hollow northern white cedar with a basswood head, and is self-righting. That's where the challenges came in...

I had done my standard weighting of the keel and had the bird glued up and painted before I remembered to check flotation - when tipped he floated on his side. After muttering to myself for a while, I went to the shop and took 1/8" off of the keel and did some drilling to determine where the existing lead pillars were located and then drilled a couple more 1/2" holes. I filled them with lead, and was about to glue the keel back together thinking "surely that's enough lead", but at the last second I decided to check flotation again. He was still pretty sluggish. So... back to the shop and more drilling and excavating to get some kind of cavity for lead. After pouring the lead, cooling and bagging he sat up nicely. That big, poofy basswood head had given me fits, and the brass reinforcing of the bill (ala Keith Mueller) hadn't helped with weight distribution.

I got in a hurry epoxying the keel back together and got some epoxy on the flank. I found out the hard way that scrubbing with acetone removes acrylic paint along with epoxy - argh! So... time to slow down, touch up the paint, re-glaze and move on.

Joel
Click to expand...

Joel, I went the opposite way with some high head goldeneyes I made years ago. After trying to float them, I tried to shave the heads down while keeping their profiles intact, ended up with two heads that were "sails" when the birds were in the water. Chopped them off and they now reside in the "box of good intentions".

Nice bird! Still admiring the drake redhead...!
 
Well, it's sort of duck related because it has duck dogs in it. When Steve bought his motormansion in August, he had shown me several neat quilts he ran across that were English Setter related. I thought hmmmmmmmmmm he has this new motormansion, so a new bed....so he should have a new quilt for his motormansion that is pretty to match the pretty motormansion. Especially since I knew he bought the motormansion so that he could extend the hunting seasons much longer and in more comfort. I talked with my gramma because she makes quilts every year and she agreed to help me though I had to find someone to machine quilt it all because the machine she has access to wouldn't do a king sized quilt and she would not hand quilt it (all of her quilts are hand quilted). I decided it would make a great Christmas present for the motormansion. So I set out looking for fabric panels that would be hunting related with black labs and English setters. A king sized background is a huge amount of space to fill so I also looked for birds that he and I both adore and also found a place that would print pictures onto fabric for quilt projects. I thought it would be neat to have a collage that also included our dogs. My gramma agreed to sew the pictures to the background, so I got everything arranged and she agreed to have it to me in time for Thanksgiving to take to the machine quilting lady. I love how it came out and I wish that I had not kept the surprise to myself when I had everything all pinned and ready for my gramma. I wish I had shown Steve what he was gonna get but that's the nature of surprises...anyway....this is now my quilt to remember great times, great dogs (past and present) and great friends......and it falls into the December workbench thread since I finally finished something [laugh]

I also learned A LOT in designing this quilt. It gives me extra respect for my gramma and all of the quilts she has made over her lifetime for all the planning and designing that goes into it before you even cut the first piece of fabric...much like boat building

i-x7jhXV7-X2.jpg


The flannel backing I was quite tickled with. My mind was blown with how many different flannels there are out there with such neat patterns...it was tough to pick

i-QZLX5Fv-XL.jpg


Finished:

i-ZbtVsrX-X2.jpg


i-jWjvBw6-X2.jpg

 
Beyond the hours of labor involved, Dani, there is a tremendous amount of love reflected in that quilt!!
 
With a few days off for Christmas I started working on two mallard hens that I reduced the pattern scale down to about 40%. I really enjoyed doing the mini decoys for the swap this year, the smaller scale allowed me to complete the projects faster and see the changes/improvements on each bird. My 2020 goal is to carve a mallard rig and I wanted more practice before getting underway. Using these reduced sized patterns allows me to use up some scrap wood and with colder weather I can manage most of the carving in my basement rather than needing the vice and venturing out to the unheated garage.

2019 was a great year and I'm happy with the carving progress I've made, but i"m looking forward to learning and carving more in 2020.



View attachment privatevarmobileContainersDataApplicationE824AD5D-ACE8-4C2E-824E-8CE5B11FFAD0tmp2425C2BC-2EF0-45C5-9
View attachment privatevarmobileContainersDataApplicationE824AD5D-ACE8-4C2E-824E-8CE5B11FFAD0tmp908948B7-84AF-4533-8
 
Dani

That quilt is very special. Steve would have loved it. I hope it finds its way to a prominent place in your home.

Eric
 
Dani that is a masterpiece of a quilt. I'm sure it will keep you warm in many ways for years to come.

Tim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top